Applications for the curatorial school that is taking place as part of the the second edition of the Valletta International Visual Arts Festival (Viva) are now open.

The week-long programme with international curators and academics is intended for practitioners and students from a variety of related areas, including curating, fine arts, art education and history of art.

Participants in the course will follow a programme of lectures, attend hands-on workshops and be able to present their own curatorial ideas. Lectures and workshops are held at the University of Malta (Valletta Campus) between August 31 and September 4, from 9.30am to 4pm.

Morning sessions are dedicated to lectures, while afternoon sessions are reserved mainly for small group seminars and workshops.

The theme this year is Curating: Communities and Contexts, dealing with the relationship between exhibition, narrative and audience, contextual art, globalisation and the curatorial field.

The theme is curating, communities and contexts

This year’s curators include Fulya Erdemci (curator of the 13th Istanbul Biennial), Simon Sheikh (curator and professor of curating at Goldsmiths in London), Mai Abu ElDahab (curator of Liverpool Biennial 2014), Paul Ardenne (art critic and curator of Luxembourg Pavilion at Venice Biennale, 2015), Bassam el Baroni (curator of EVA Biennial in Limerick, Ireland, in 2014) and Adam Budak (chief curator at the National Gallery in Prague).

Participation in the course will be through a selection process, while tuition fees are €100 for the whole course. Registered undergraduate or postgraduate students pay €50. Prospective participants must submit their application form, download-able from http://www.viva.org.mt/#curatorial-school, and a recent CV by August 4 at noon.

The curatorial school is part of the V18 events and is being held in collaboration with St James Cavalier Centre. For more information call on 2124 2018 or send e-mail projects1@valletta2018.org.